Monday, 27 May 2013

This picture taken at the Richelieu Brocante a couple of weeks ago brought back childhood memories.

Friday night bath time in a tin bath very similar to this one and in front of the living room coal fire. Circa 1950's

My parents lived in a terraced mill cottage, my mother was a weaver and my father a maintenance fitter. The house had no bathroom and an external WC at the end of the yard. The bath, as I remember, hung on a nail in the yard when not in use! This was the norm for that type of property at that time.

By the 60's they had an internal bathroom installed and the tin bath was no more.

Does not bear thinking about today but that was how it was and remarkably I have some memories of it.

Today the baths are sought after for mixing plaster! well in England that is. It would be a brave soul who mixed a bath of French plaster; it would be set before it had been mixed!

Sunday, 26 May 2013

I would dearly love a "granny's bonnet" aquilegia if anyone would like a seed swop. But unfortunately they do not always come true from seed... It's the luck of the draw, with some wonderful results along the way.

Thursday, 23 May 2013

This is the heading to an article in yesterday's BBC news magazine and the article raises some interesting points about the "value" of language, not just as a means of expressing thoughts but also as a type of litmus to the culture and nationality it represents. I'm only mentioning one or two main points very briefly

For some time now the elite universities have been teaching courses in English and the suggestion is that this should percolate down to all universities to make them more competitive to international students.

However this argument is far reaching; is it possible that International students might elect to study in France to subsume themselves in its language and culture? In this case, teaching in English would be pointless.

If the UK were to leave the EU there would only be three countries with English as their joint official language, so there would no longer be a need for EU business to be conducted in English.

And perhaps the most convincing argument....

"Teaching [them] Proust in English, in France, would be a travesty"

It's a heated debate, with even good old Cardinal Richelieu getting a mention! The Academie Francaise was founded in 1635 by him to fight off foreign influences on the french language, though in this case it was Italian not English..

Few countries guard their linguistic heritage as closely as France, so we suspect they will still be debating this one when the High Speed Rail link from London to Birmingham is complete. (!??)

Or maybe they are just waiting for us (expats) to give up trying to speak in French?? Now there's an interesting thought!

Other things are more unusual such as the filming of a television programme for Secret d'Histoire en Pays de Richelieu! This is part of a series going out on national television in the summer. If you wish to know more, see here for an article published in La Nouvelle Republique.

This unlikely looking pair hosted an event, including lots of activities for children, at the Domaine Pierre et Bertrand Couly at Chinon...

Sunday, 19 May 2013

When we opened the car tailgate the other day we noticed we had some potentially new residents.

The structure has been made by wasps and in the past we have come across the same type of nest on our front door casing and on the window casings. We blogged about them here.

Our friend and insect expert Tim commented on these saying: "These are not your normal wasps and do not need to be removed... this is as large as this nest gets! They are a semi-social hunting wasp Polistes gallicus or similar... they are called "paper wasps". They build a 'communal' nest. Each cell is filled with caterpillar [paralyzed] upon which the egg is laid. Each wasp is a female and adds as many cells to the nest as she has eggs. I've handled these without getting stung..."

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Baking a cake for Colin's birthday was not without its problems. He is following a low fat diet, I have coeliac disease - so no wheat flour, barley, rye, or their derivatives - and it had to suit Colin's grandchildren.

Sunday, 12 May 2013

As we mentioned the other evening, we went with Jim and Pauline to the picturesque village of Angles sur l'Anglin, set in the Vallee de l'Anglin. Despite the, at times, indifferent weather, the charm of the place couldn't fail to captivate.

We'll let this random selection of images, taken as we walked around the village, do the talking..

The Chateau..

Overlooking the Vallee de l'Anglin

One way down to the Ville basse...

The water mill and weir..

The winding streets of the village, with an amazing assortment of properties, some beautifully restored and some left to go to ruin..

Taken from a vantage point looking across to the chateau. They certainly knew where to locate the important buildings in those days!

Looking down from the Ville haute to the Ville basse..

The Mairie...

And, finally, as we got back to where we had parked, I couldn't resist this shot of the church with the wonderful chestnut "candles" in their full glory..

If you've never been, it is well worth a visit... To find out more about Angles, see here

About Us

After six years living in rural France we felt it was the right time for us to return to northwest England and begin a new chapter in our life together.
We chose to sell the house we already had in England and have a completely fresh start. After several months of property hunting we decided upon the first house we had viewed.
Having settled into the house and made friends in the area, we couldn't be more sure that we've made the right choice.
We have everything we need to hand and can walk out from the house into the most beautiful countryside and coastline.
We don't regret a minute in France but this is our future and we're loving it!